SVN International Corp. announced its new capital investment based growth strategy plans with the launch of two new partner firms in Southern California: the merger of ECP Commercial into the San Diego office of SVN | Vanguard; and separately, the acquisition of a team from Advisors Real Estate, to form SVN | Commercial-DTLA located in Downtown Los Angeles. This expansion represents the first phase of SVN®’s new Partnership Strategy. Through this new structure, SVN is acquiring minority interests in established companies and high growth teams in strategic markets that will operate under the SVN brand and franchise structure.
Kevin Maggiacomo, president & CEO of SVN International Corp. recently spoke with Kelsi Maree Borland, a freelance writer for GlobeSt.com. The following is an excerpt from the article that was featured on GlobeSt.com on January 23, 2019.
“As a growth accelerator for the brand, these minority acquisitions not only provide SVN with immediate market share but also provides a foundation on which we can aggressively reinvest in markets on an ongoing basis for future growth,” Kevin Maggiacomo, president and CEO of SVN International Corp., tells GlobeSt.com. “These key markets are also the most active in terms of volume and velocity and serve as hubs for inbound and outbound opportunities.”
President CEO, SVN International Corp.
This is the first part of a two-pronged growth strategy. The second part will focus on the growing interest in alternative consolidation options. “We believe that the evolving competitive landscape and wave of consolidation has created demand for firms to be part of a larger platform but who also seek an alternative to traditional franchising or a straight, 100% acquisition,” adds Maggiacomo. “Our partnership strategy provides a bit of both, affiliating with one of the most recognized brands in CRE while simultaneously realizing some liquidity.”
The new partnership model doesn’t mean that SVN is planning to abandon the franchise model, however. Maggiacomo says the firm will continue to be a “pure” franchisor, as he describes. “We’re making minority investments here and not reverting back to the corporate stores of old,” he adds. “The agility, flexibility and stability that franchising provides is a core tenet of our business. Our partnership investments are a supplemental strategy designed to accelerate and affect exponential growth in key markets where firms are looking for a structure that was previously unavailable through our traditional franchise model.”
In fact, the firm’s success with the franchise model has enabled them to adopt this new partnership model. Maggiacomo sees it has a new opportunity for growth. “Like any organization, we are constantly assessing our business model to in order to ascertain our best opportunities for growth,” he explains. “Last year we saw the 200th office open under the SVN brand. We’re pleased with our market coverage, but we determined that our greatest opportunity for growth was in increasing our market share in key US markets. Doing that—quickly and in targeted form—requires a unique solution to the desires of the marketplace. A capital powered partnership strategy combined with the SVN systems for growth yields a product that is appealing to a bevy of high growth firms who fit the SVN mold.”
Specifically, Maggiacomo is looking for companies that are sizable and on the brink of obtaining significant market share, especially with access to support. “While the owners could sell all or a majority of their firm’s stock, most believe that they would be selling short or too early and further don’t want to relinquish control of their businesses,” he says. “The SVN Partnership Program provides for immediate liquidity to firm shareholders. This, coupled with growth capital for bolt-on acquisitions as well as SVN’s technology stack, systems and resources puts each partnership firm on their own “ten times” path to growth.”
The two firms SVN has purchased include ECP Commercial in San Diego, which will merge into SVN | Vanguard, and a team from Advisors Real Estate, which will form SVN | Commercial-DTLA in Los Angeles. These two firms perfectly fit the bill, aligning with both the growth strategy and the firm’s company culture. “For us, the SVN culture is everything—our culture is our business model, and so ensuring that prospective partner firms believe in and practice fee sharing and broker cooperation, as an example, is paramount,” Maggiacomo explains.
To read the entire GlobeSt.com article, CLICK HERE.
To find out more about franchising with SVN, CLICK HERE.